Free nicotine patches 'do not help quitters'

Handing out free nicotine patches and telephone counselling to smokers is unlikely to help them quit, a major new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Nottingham's UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies assessed 2,591 smokers who contacted the NHS smoking helpline in England between February 2009 and February 2010.

Patients were divided into four treatment groups: standard support; standard support with free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT); proactive support (consisting of extra telephone and message support); and proactive support with free NRT.

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After six months, 18.9 per cent of the 59 per cent of people who were contacted said they had successfully quit. The researchers assumed that those they did not manage to contact were still smoking.

There was no significant difference in quit rates between those offered standard support and those given proactive support, nor between those who were and were not offered free NRT.

Lead researcher Professor Tim Coleman said that the findings 'highlight just how hard it is for most people to break their addiction to tobacco and just how powerful and damaging a drug this is'.

He added: 'On the basis of this study, giving out free nicotine patches and more intensive telephone counselling through the English national quit-line just doesn't seem to work.'

Figures for April to September 2011 show that 378,724 people set a quit date through NHS Stop Smoking Services during the period, with 47 per cent of these successfully quitting by their four-week follow-up.

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